I want to continue that message
this evening, encouragement for Israel. I did direct your attention
this morning to the way chapter 43 begins, but now, thus saith
the Lord. It is amazing to see the grace
and goodness and mercy of our Lord to us in Christ Jesus. In the last portion of chapter
42, the Lord sets forth His people as being idolatrous, unbelieving people of a hard
heart, people who were blind to the glories of the Lord, people
who were deaf to His gospel, deaf to the word of warning from
His preachers, He spoke of them being sinful and of God being
justly anger with regard to sin. And I would also remind you,
you can't separate the sin from the sinner. God's angry with
the wicked. The scripture says every day,
every day. But as we get into chapter 43,
here the Lord speaks very encouraging words to his people. And he speaks as though nothing,
nothing had interfered with their relationship to him. He doesn't
mention the things that he brought forth in the latter part of chapter
42 of being idolatrous and refusing to see and refusing to hear. It's as though all of those things
had been taken away. And so he says, here's some good
news for the people of God. Chapter 43, verse one, but now,
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, O crooked one,
O you evil man, and he that formed thee, O Israel, O prince of God,
O royal one. God says, fear not. notwithstanding
your sinfulness, notwithstanding your rebellion and your rejection
and your attitude toward God, there's nothing, nothing to be
fearful of. Why is that? I'm a sinner. God
is angry with the wicked every day. I'm a wicked person. And
yet, Lord, you tell me not to fear There is nothing to fear
from our God, for He is reconciled. We are reconciled to God through
the death of His Son. We are righteous in His sight. There is no judgment for the
people of God. God says, fear not. Yes, all
of the things that God says about His people are absolutely the
truth. And yet, we have a wonderful
relationship with God. This is not something that we
did. This is not something we pursued. This is not an approval of God
that was in any way brought to pass by something we did or something
we would do. This is all of God. You see,
salvation from beginning to end is all of the Lord. He purposed
salvation. He purchased a people for this
salvation by the very power of His Spirit. He made an application
of this salvation to us. He preserves us in grace, and
He will perfect us someday. This is all of God. And so the
Lord says to us, notwithstanding our natural condition and our
natural enmity against Him, God says to His people, You have
nothing to fear. You have nothing to fear. Hear
me. If you do fear the Lord, and
that's the beginning of wisdom. If you do fear the Lord, you
have nothing to fear. If there is no fear in your heart
for God, you have much to be fearful of. So the Lord here in chapter 43,
especially the first 13 verses, which are the only verses that
we're considering today, these are very encouraging words to
His people. This reconciliation is not anything
due to what His people have done, but it's due to what God has
done. Now, I wanna give you three things
this evening. First of all, let me talk to
you about the speaker. The speaker, and he identifies
himself. And the word of God is certainly,
it is no less true when it's the words of Isaiah or any other
inspired writer of scripture. It's all true. Thy word is truth,
is what our Lord Jesus says. But Isaiah here, this is a direct
quote that Isaiah gives us that came forth from the lips of God.
But now thus saith the LORD. The speaker is the LORD. And the word LORD in all capital
letters is Jehovah, the Eternal God, the Great I Am. He identified himself to Moses
in Exodus chapter 3. I am that I am and that angel
that spoke to Moses out of the burning bush that was not consumed
was none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. For God will not
speak to nor be spoken to by any sinner except through Christ. And so there in Exodus chapter
3, the voice that spoke to Moses, take your shoes off, you're standing
on holy ground. I am that I am. That's the Son
of God. That's the Son of God speaking. That's His voice. I am that I am, without beginning
of days, without ending of days. He is the independent and self-existent
God. You see, all of us, we are not
self-existent. Our existence is dependent upon
God. But God's existence depends on
no one but Himself. He is the ever-existent God. I am that I am. And our Lord
Jesus Himself identified Himself in the Gospel of John specifically
as the great I am. Several times Christ used that
regarding Himself. To the Jews, He said in John
8, I am, before Abraham was, I am, He said. I am. In Revelation chapter 1, he told
John the apostle, speaking of himself, he's the one which is,
which was, and which is to come. He takes in past, present, future. One word, Jehovah. And do we
not read in the book of Hebrews, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday? Today and forever. You see, you had a beginning.
Your soul had a beginning. Your body had a beginning. But
God is without beginning. In fact, in the beginning when
God created all things, He was already in existence, otherwise
He could not have created. He is the ever-existent God. You say, Jim, I can't wrap my
mind around that. Nobody says you need to. You
can't comprehend such a God. A God who had no beginning, no
origin. And a God who will have no ending,
no finality to Him. He is the great I Am. Look at,
I want to show you a verse of Scripture, Psalm 83. Look at
Psalm 83. Psalm 83 and verse 18. Look, 17 and 18. The psalmist,
it's the psalm of Asaph. Let them, let the enemies of
the Lord be confounded and troubled forever. Yea, let them be put
to shame and perish, that men may know that thou, whose name
alone is Jehovah, that thou art the most high over
the earth." The Jewish writers said that Jehovah breaks down
into three syllables, each of them very significant. J-E, J,
that signifies the present tense. Ho, that signifies past tense. Va, that signifies future tense. That's our great God. Past, present, future, always
the same. Therefore, His name is I Am. At any point throughout the history
of mankind, from the beginning in Genesis chapter 1 and verse
1, God is always I Am. I Am. This is a name that belongs to
Father, Son, and Spirit. So the one who speaks here in
Isaiah chapter 43 is none other than Jehovah. Jehovah. And secondly, he's not only,
the speaker is not only the Lord, he's the creator. He says, but
now thus saith the Lord that created thee. Creation is attributed
to Jehovah. He's the Creator, and being the
Creator of all things, He's the Sovereign of all things. All
things are of God, our Creator. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1 also says, so God created
man in His own image, Male and female created He them. There may be some idiots in this
world who doesn't know what a female is, but I'll tell you, God created
male and female. That's what He did. That's what
He did. He spake and it was done. He
is the creator of all physical life. He is the creator of all
things. And He's our spiritual creator. Look at verse 7 here in Isaiah
43. Even everyone that is called
by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I formed him. Let me tell you something, a
Christian, a child of God, is not self-created. That's Arminian
free will heresy. We don't create ourselves. We're
a creation of God. It's the Lord who caused us to
be born again by his incorruptible seed. Salvation is a work which
God has done and which God is continuing and which God will
perfect. The Lord created us anew and
He did it for His glory. He says, for I created Him, verse
7, for My glory. That's God's reason for doing
everything. It's for His glory. For His glory. Why did He make the heavens and
the earth? For His glory. Why did He make
the stars that no human eye will ever see? For his glory. Why did he make the flowers that
bloom up on a remote mountainside that no human eye will ever enjoy
the beauty of? For his glory. Why did he make
you anew in Christ Jesus? For his glory. I formed him,
God says. Yay, I have made him. He's our
spiritual creator. And I'll tell you this also,
he's the creator of not only all of creation and, of course,
life and spiritual life, not only physical life, but spiritual
life, but he's the creator of all events and all happenings,
whether we deem them to be good or bad. Look at, turn over a page or
two to chapter 45 of Isaiah. Chapter 45 in verse 7. Now hear
what God says. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace. And God says, I create evil. I the Lord do these things. What
does evil mean here? Disagreeable things. Unpleasant
things. Things that make us unhappy.
Things that are often quite hurtful. You see, one of the goals of
men has always been, one of the goals of men who hate God has
always been to do away with the name of God. Let's just do away
with God. Somebody told me here recently,
they went to, a friend of theirs went to get a license tag. Got
a new vehicle, get a license tag, and got their license tag,
and then when they got it, they noticed it didn't say, in God
we trust. and they were quite upset. So
she asks the clerk, how come I didn't get one that
says, in God we trust? We no longer issue those automatically. You have to ask for them. Have
to ask for them. Let's get rid of the name of
God. That's man's approach. Don't mention God. that like
to have His name off of our currency. Let's get rid of God. We don't
want any mention of God. It used to be when things happened,
some flood, a storm or something, people would say, the Lord did
it. Oh, not anymore. You dare not say that. You don't
attribute those things to God anymore. We say Mother Nature
did it. Or men say this now, oh, that's
a result of climate change that man has brought about. And they
refuse to acknowledge that these things are of God. All things
are of God. I wonder what people would have
blamed the flood of Noah's day upon. What did man do to cause the
rains to come? must have done something horrible
to cause the rains to come. What man did, that is physically,
didn't cause the rains to come. That's God's rain. That's God's
floods. The hurricanes, the tornadoes,
be it what it may, I heard somebody this week, And I get so aggravated
at this, because I see, don't get duped into this slippery
slope of doing away with the name of God. Heard somebody this
week say, the reason the floods happened in southeastern Kentucky,
it's man's fault, because we're ruining the atmosphere. They dare not say, this is the
hand of God. But the people of God know for
certain God is the first cause of all things. God says, I create
evil in the book of Amos chapter 3. Shall there be evil in the
city and the Lord hath not done it? Spurgeon has an excellent sermon
on this when the cholera was really a problem in London. Who did that? Who brings these
things to pass? And this is Spurgeon's question.
He dealt with it honestly and from the Scriptures. This is
God doing it. But man, you see, is so dead
set against God. that they don't want to attribute
anything to Him, certainly not salvation. Don't want to do that, because
God's not going to infringe upon your free will. Well, I'll tell
you what, you better hope and pray that He does. That He interrupts
you on your fatal journey toward hell. Because if you have your
way, if I have my way, we're going to perish. That's just
the truth. Who speaks here? The Creator. He made you. He formed you. If you're one of His children,
He gave you spiritual life. He preserves you. He keeps you. and the difficult things in life,
the unpleasant things in life, he does those too. Do you think
anybody can get sick without the purpose of God being fulfilled? You think you could have heart
disease or cancer without the purpose of God? Who controls
all of these issues? I know man's thinking, All the
good things, all the pleasant things, all the delightful things,
well, we'll say they come from God. But all of the bad things, all
the horrible things, all the troublesome things, they're from
the devil. That's not what Job believed. He said the Lord gave. He didn't
say the devil took them away. He said, the Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And when his wife in the second chapter said, you need just curse
God and die. You know what he said? What? Shall we receive good from the
hand of God and not evil too? There is a great ignorance of
God. in this world. People have no
idea who He is and what He's doing, but we do. We do. He's the God who governs
all things. He is not at your beck and call. You're at His beck and call,
and He will use you according to his own purpose and will.
Moses said to Pharaoh, God said, Moses, you go tell Pharaoh this. For this same purpose I raised
you up. I put you on the throne. I empowered
you in order to make my power known. And I'll tell you, when
God got through with him, he drowned him in the Red Sea and
sent his soul to hell. That's what God did. That's the
God of the Bible. And if you don't know that God,
I pray he'll introduce himself to you. God said in the Psalms to a bunch
of Israelites, you thought I was such and one as yourself. You
thought I was just like you. He said, I'm not like you. In Isaiah 40, the Lord says,
to whom will you compare me? Who's like me? Nobody's like him. This is a
God to be worshiped, a God to be adored, a God to express thanksgiving
to. This is the God who's the giver
of life and the taker of life. Who gave you life? They say,
my mom and my dad. All life originates with God. And I'll tell you when a life
is taken, as your brother passed away a few days ago, the same
one who gave Danny a life, took that life. And whenever he gets ready, he
who gave you life, he'll take your life too. And he doesn't
owe you any word of warning either. Damn, he died just like that,
didn't he? So he's dead before he hit the floor. Tell you, oh,
that men and women would realize the God of glory. Oh, to teach
us who he is, teach us to fear him. to be reverent of Him. Holy and reverent is His name. His name declares who He is. Who is He? Who's the speaker? Chapter 43 again in verse three,
the Holy One of Israel. That describes the essence of
Jehovah. He is holy. The Lord is glorious
in holiness. That is to say the essence of
the very glory of God is His holiness. Who can define holiness? Most people define holiness as
the way you dress, you dress properly and the way you conduct
yourself. I'll tell you this, I think holiness
has got something to do Wholeness. W-h-o-l-e-n-e-s-s. Wholeness. See, the holiness of God, it
is the perfection of all of God's nature and all of God's attributes. Perfection. He is whole. He is wholeness. That's why,
you see, when we talk about holiness for you and me, and people say
I'm making progress in holiness. See, holiness, to be holy, is
to have a wholeness, a spiritual wholeness about you. Totally
well. Free of all imperfections. And the only way to be holy before
God is to be holy in Christ Jesus. He of God is our holiness. Don't talk to me about making
progress in holiness. You don't make progress in being
whole before God. You either are whole or you're
not. You either are holy or you're not holy. Now if you want to
talk about godliness, live a godly life, absolutely. but we're to be whole before
God. I'd say holiness is the luster
and the very glory of all of the attributes of God. Who is it who speaks? Fourthly,
he's the Savior. Verse three, for I am the Lord
thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Look at verse 11. I, even I am the Lord. I am Jehovah. And besides me, there's no savior. Nowhere in the Bible are you
said to be your savior. You can't save anybody else.
You can't save yourself. If you're gonna be saved, God's
gonna have to save you. He's the savior. Over in chapter
45, verse 21, he says, I'm a just God and a Savior. The only way
God could save anybody was to be true to His justice by providing a substitute to
die in the wrong place instead of His people. And I'll go quickly
one more. Who is the speaker of the successful
Lord? Verse 13. Yea, before the day
was, I am, I am he. And there is none that can deliver
out of my hand. I love this statement. I will
work and who shall let it? Who shall hinder it? Who shall
hinder it? He's the successful Lord. Let
me tell you something. When God saves, nobody can unsave
you. He who has taken you in the very
palm of His hand, nobody can, as the Savior said, pluck you
out of the Father's hand. He will perform His work of salvation. And God says, I will work Who
will let it? Who will hinder me? Who's going
to stop me from doing my will? That's what God says. Who's going
to stop me? Can the devil stop him? No. Can all the forces of evil stop
him? No. Can you with your miserable
so-called free will stop him? I will work. who shall hinder me. His purpose cannot be frustrated
and his power cannot be controlled. His work cannot be made void. He always succeeds because there's
nothing and nobody superior to God. He's the speaker. Secondly, to
whom are these words addressed? Verse one, Jacob and Israel. Jacob and Israel. Those of you who are familiar
with the Old Testament Scriptures, you're certainly aware of the
fact that so often when God speaks of Jacob and Israel, he's speaking
really of his people. Jacob is what we are by nature. Israel is what we are by grace.
By nature, we're a crooked people. We're a deceiving people. We're
Jacob. That's why in Malachi 3, the
Lord calls us sons of Jacob. He says, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And we're kind of like chips
off the old block. He was a deceiver and so are
we. We're Jacob by nature, but we're
Israel. A grace. Royalty. We're a prince with God. And
the word of God in the scriptures presents us as being Israel. Let me make good on that real
quick. Go over to the book of Romans, if you would. First of all, Romans chapter
two. Romans chapter two. Let's establish
from the word of God, I don't want you to take my word for
it, I want you to look, read along with me as I read about
these people who are called Israel. Israel. Now I know there's a
natural nation, a nation of people that God chose to physical mercies,
but there's also a spiritual group of people that's represented
by physical Israel, and it's called the Israel of God. Look
here in Romans 2 in verse 28. For he is not a Jew which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God." I said, Jim, what in the world is that talking about?
Under the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, God established a sign
of the covenant, which was that the males would be circumcised. Well, now let's get into the
new covenant, There's also a sign of the new covenant. Something
happens to us. But it isn't something physical. But it is a real circumcision,
not of the flesh, but of the heart. And that's called the new birth
or regeneration. He is a Jew. He is an Israelite. Not by having the ability to
trace your natural lineage all the way back to Abraham. And
this is made clear if you want to read a few verses in Romans
chapter 9. That's not that physical relationship
to Abraham. That's not what we're talking
about. It's what God does for a sinner when he cuts the heart
in quickening, regenerating grace. Now that's an Israelite indeed.
An Israelite indeed. I'll give you another reference
or two. Look at Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six. And here we read the expression,
the Israel of God. Galatians six and verse 14. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything or uncircumcision."
Now let's just stop right there. Who's he talking about? Circumcision
is being a natural Jew. That doesn't profit you anything
with God, being able to trace your lineage back to Abraham,
nor uncircumcision, nor being a Gentile. You don't have an
advantage being a Jew or a Gentile. Well, what matters? A new creature. Look at verse 16. And as many
as walk according to this rule. What is the rule? glorying in
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the rule. That's our rule of life. My rule of life is not the law
of Moses. I'm free from the law. Don't
dare try to put me under the law of God because the Lord doesn't
do that. I'm under a greater law, the
law of love, the law of Christ Himself, who was crucified for
me, and I glory in Him. We walk according to that rule.
Watch it. Peace be on them, and mercy upon
the Israel of God. We're the Israel of God. If you're
children of God, you're the Israel of God. Now go back to Isaiah
43. So now we've established who
Israel is. Israel is the people of God. God has prevailed over us, just
like He prevailed over Jacob when he wrestled with him. God
has prevailed over us in free and sovereign grace. I tell you what, He wrestled with
you. and he pinned you, and he left a mark on you. He saved
you by his grace. He drew you unto himself, and
you're one of his people. And the Lord says to his people,
fear not. Fear not. Fear not, your troubles can't
separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
Fear not, the Lord reigns over all things. Fear not. All things
work together for your good. Fear not. Fear not. And then the Lord gives several
glorious truths, and I don't have time to get into these by
any means. On another occasion I will, but
here in the third place, let me give you the few glorious
truths here. Redemption. He says in verse
one, I've redeemed you. I bought and paid for you. When
the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross of Calvary, he was
paying a price for us. He's settling up with God on
our behalf. I like that thought. All my indebtedness. How much does he owe? Way yonder more he could ever
pay. I'll pay. And he paid with his life's blood.
Redemption. That's a particular redemption.
I have redeemed thee. He redeemed you. He didn't redeem
everybody. He redeemed his people. It's
a particular redemption. The second truth is calling. He says in verse 1, I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name. Zacchaeus, come down, for today
I must abide at thy house. He calleth his own sheep by name. And I'll tell you what, when
he calls you, you will come. It's the effectual call of grace.
It's a special call. And you're witnesses of the fact
that it's the Lord who called you. The Lord even says this
here in chapter 43. Look at what he says in verse
10. You're my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen, that you may know and
believe me, and understand that I am He. Before me there was
no God formed, neither shall there be any after me." You're
witnesses. You who believe the gospel, you
witness to the truth of this. Did you choose Him? Did He choose
you? Did you call on Him or did He
call on you? This glorious relationship that
you have with Christ Jesus isn't because of something you did
for God or something God did for you. You be the witness.
That's what God said. You're the witnesses. You who
are saved by the grace of God, you are witnesses to the fact
salvation is of the Lord. You're witnesses. He called you. And then here's
the third thing, redemption, calling. Third thing is ownership. He says in verse 1, thou art
mine. That's what God says, thou art
mine. I chose you. I bought you. I called you. I keep you. You're mine, you're
my property. You're bought with a price, therefore
glorify God in your spirit and in your body, which are the Lord's.
And then here quickly is a compliment. He says in verse two, I'll be
with you, whatever you go through. He says, I'll be with you. Literally,
I with thee. I with thee. I'm with you by my power to protect
you. I'm with you by my provisions
to give you everything you need. I'm with you always, even to
the ends of the world. And the troubles, the trials,
the tribulations, they're not going to destroy you. Tribulation, you'll come out
of it. And then he says salvation. Verse
three, he says, for I am the Lord, thy God, the Holy One,
thy Savior. Salvation. He is our salvation. Let me show you this and I'll
quit. Look at verse 12. It's what the Lord says now.
I have declared and have saved and I have showed. That's three
things. Three things. I have declared. I have saved. And I have showed. What does showed mean? It isn't
shooed, it's showed. I have manifested. I've made
known. I have declared. What did God declare? What did
all of the Old Testament, what was God declaring? My Son's going
to come. That's what all the Old Testament
is about. We know that. God says, I have declared. I
have declared my Son is coming, the seed of the woman. He's going
to redeem. He's going to save. I have declared. Well then, he says, and have
saved. He gave a declaration that salvation
is coming. The Savior is coming. Well, what
did the Savior do? He saved. The angel said, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. This is what God declared all
the way through the Old Testament. God's servants had been declaring,
He's coming, He's coming, He's coming and He will save. And
then our Lord Jesus did come. And what did He do? He saved. How did He do that? By His work
of redemption upon the cross of Calvary. He satisfied God
and saved His people. When were we justified? Hang
on now. It wasn't when you believed. We were justified when Christ
died for us. When were your sins put away?
You say, well, when I repented. No. Your repentance can't put
sin away. The putting away of your sin
is not dependent upon anything you can or would or ever shall
do. They were put away by the substitutionary
sacrifice of Christ Jesus. He saved us by His death. That's
what He did. And then God says this, And I
have showed. Strange gods couldn't show you
this. Couldn't manifest this to you.
I manifested to you. I saved you by my grace through
the death of my Son. I manifested that to you. That
you didn't save yourself. And you know something? All who
are the Lord's true Israel, this is our testimony. What the Lord
has done. What the Lord has done. He declared
in the Old Testament what He was going to do. He brought it
to pass when Christ came into this world. And it was manifested
to you by effectual grace. He saved you. He made the salvation
accomplished by Christ Jesus a reality to you in your heart. And He keeps on making it a reality. He keeps us rejoicing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I hope that helped. I hope it encourages you in the
faith once delivered to the saints of God. Closing song, 233. Depth of Mercy. Can there be
mercy still reserved for me? Oh, what a great hymn. 233. Depth
of Mercy. Let's stand together and we'll
sing all of the four stanzas here, and then we'll go home.
Stand.